Starting to look very overpriced.

Gerz6558

crunchman said:

thegummy said:

crunchman said:

thegummy said:

Aye I was being generous saying a grand because that's what I paid for my American Strat a couple of years ago.

Take a couple of guitars in your 500-800 range - the Schecter Nick Johnston and the PRS SE 245. I don't think anyone would be able to explain what is lacking on those that a guitar costing double has.

A completely possible reason someone would believe something's better but not be able to say why is that they expect it to be better because it costs more so have a psychosomatic interpretation where it is actually better (hence not being able to say why).

But if they were handed 2 guitars they didn't know which was 800 and which was 2 grand (and nothing on the guitars gave that away visually) would they feel the 2 grand guitar was better? I really don't think so.

My first proper Strat was an American Standard, my second was a Player and the only thing better about the American was that the fretboard edges were rolled. If they did that on the Player and charged a tenner extra or whatever, it would be equal.

Some of what I said above applies here.

I'm pretty sure the PRS SEs have softer fretwire than the US PRS guitars.  That's a significant difference.  If SEs have bird inlays, they are likely to be plastic.  The tuners on the US PRS are definitely better.  Some or all of the other hardware is probably better as well.  These days, new US PRS have nitro over catalysed acylic finish, while I'm pretty sure the SEs will be "poly".  Whether or not you think it makes any difference, the US finish will be more labour intensive - and will probably age better as well.

I've owned an SE, and it was a great guitar.  Technically I still own it - I lent it to my brother in law years ago but he never gave it back!  It's not the same as the US guitars though.

I own a Mexican Classic Series Strat and a US AVRI as well.  Again the hardware is a lot better on the US guitar.  For example, the pots on the Mexican guitar feel scratchy in comparison.  They probably won't last as long either.  The pickups are ok, but not great.  It won't age like the nitro finished US guitar.  I've had that about 17 years, and it's really starting to look good.  Admittedly, a US Standard/Pro isn't nitro finished so there isn't as big a difference with those.

Again, the Mexican guitar is a great guitar, and sounds better than a lot of more expensive ones, but it does have some shortcomings against the US guitar.

You could upgrade the hardware and pickupson the cheaper guitars and get close, but it would be hassle, and would eat up a lot of the price difference.

The fretwire - is it worth paying over £2'500 quid extra (360% of the price lol) so that in 10 years or whatever you don't have to pay a couple hundred to have the frets replaced?

With the pots it's literally about a fiver for the set and pickups you're talking 200 quid even for the fanciest.

Can you really say it eats up a lot of the price difference to upgrade those parts? It's really a fraction of the price difference.

The other things you mention are aesthetic things and the aesthetic differences do change right the way up the price ladder, up to insane prices, it just depends what you like the look of. It was specifically the functional aspect that doesn't improve after that price, the aesthetic aspect quite clearly changes.

You don't have to spend £2500 extra.  You can get S2s for just over £1100, or around £1300 for a gloss finish.  When a lot of the SEs are £800, I'd rather get the S2.  I really like the satin finish on some of the S2s.  The neck feels absolutely lovely once you have played it a bit.

Wouldn't you need to swap the pickups and electrics in those? I believe they are SE import hardware?

crunchman

Gerz6558 said:

Wouldn't you need to swap the pickups and electrics in those? I believe they are SE import hardware?

You need to swap the pickups on a lot of Core PRS as well.  Their pickups are not their strong point.

Grumpyrocker

The pickups on the newer SE 245 are really good. Definitely a lot better than the ones on my older SE Custom 22.

Gerz6558

crunchman 

You need to swap the pickups on a lot of Core PRS as well.  Their pickups are not their strong point.

I suppose the point I was making is that there are still compromises at S2 level.  I dont personally see the marked improvement over an SE, but I concede that's purely on paper as I haven't tried an SE or S2.

impmann

So... we aren't happy about paying for premium products.

But vintage guitar pricing... thats all good, right?

Dan_Halen

impmann said:

So... we aren't happy about paying for premium products.

But vintage guitar pricing... thats all good, right?

Now we all know the best guitar money can buy is a Fender 2016 US Standard we can safely say the vintage market is done for. Sell your axes and invest now before word gets out.

Devil#20

I just watched the Andertons review of the new pro series with Lee Anderton and Pete Honore and beyond the new colours they were struggling to come up with anything that different. Pete, although probably not intentionally meaning to sound disparaging, described the pine telecaster as your grandma's sideboard. They are using pine because of the unavailability of ash due to diseased trees. It looks awful. They never mentioned the price increase. or indeed the price. They tried to say they sounded different and then later retracted that statement. Basically, bar minor detail, the same guitar.    

skunkwerx

Devil#20 said:

I just watched the Andertons review of the new pro series with Lee Anderton and Pete Honore and beyond the new colours they were struggling to come up with anything that different. Pete, although probably not intentionally meaning to sound disparaging, described the pine telecaster as your grandma's sideboard. They are using pine because of the unavailability of ash due to diseased trees. It looks awful. They never mentioned the price increase. or indeed the price. They tried to say they sounded different and then later retracted that statement. Basically, bar minor detail, the same guitar.    

I think the pine ones look ace! I know Fender used it early doors too. 

But yeah, with these things gotta wait for the real world reviews to come out. Most so far have been retailers or youtube stars with the product provided. 

Its not a major overhaul though. Personally I dont think the Professional line needed the tweaks but I guess like gibson they’ll shuffle things about every few years. 

Guess the price is the price. 

I certainly dont feel like switching my Professional 1 out for a 2 though

Greatape

skunkwerx said:

Devil#20 said:

I just watched the Andertons review of the new pro series with Lee Anderton and Pete Honore and beyond the new colours they were struggling to come up with anything that different. Pete, although probably not intentionally meaning to sound disparaging, described the pine telecaster as your grandma's sideboard. They are using pine because of the unavailability of ash due to diseased trees. It looks awful. They never mentioned the price increase. or indeed the price. They tried to say they sounded different and then later retracted that statement. Basically, bar minor detail, the same guitar.    

I think the pine ones look ace! I know Fender used it early doors too. 

But yeah, with these things gotta wait for the real world reviews to come out. Most so far have been retailers or youtube stars with the product provided. 

Its not a major overhaul though. Personally I dont think the Professional line needed the tweaks but I guess like gibson they’ll shuffle things about every few years. 

Guess the price is the price. 

I certainly dont feel like switching my Professional 1 out for a 2 though

It's just business, isn't it? 

They've declared they have a four-year cycle on product renewal and they're trying to squeeze the highest possible profit margin out of it. As you'd expect. But they're starting to look like Apple: add new developments into your product years after everyone else and at a higher price. 

fretmeister

The most over priced instrument Fender make has to be the Precision bass.

The most simple, least developed instrument ever. More simple than the telecaster. Hasn't even got a switch.

I swear they put shitty pickups in the cheaper ones because if they put in a custom shop pickup none of us could tell the difference whether it was loaded into a Squier or a £5000 signature model.

Especially when the holy grail tone seems to be through an Ampeg - surely the most signature bass amp sound of all time.